I wanted to clarify and give proper credit to the author of the 1GHz article since I have been informed the 1GHz article is noted at MacOS Rumors and MacAddict as being the work of Michiro Isobe. (BTW - Thanks to Macaddict for noting where they spotted the link. ;-) I have written MOSR and MacAddict to note the misunderstanding. [MOSR's Wednesday page has been changed to correct the author within an hour of posting this tonight]

I'm not taking anything away from Michiro - he's done great work and could have done such an article easily. (Look at the detail in his articles here on the G4/AGP 7400 and 7450 CPU module designs/settings - very comprehensive. He's also the author of PPC Checker).
If you missed our Tuesday's news, the Quicksilver OC page at Takashi Imai's web site is here.

"The Sims Carbon Installer (US)-1.9MB
This installs a Carbonized version of the Sims app. This is for the U.S. retail version of the original Sims only. They recommend sticking with the Classic apps and updaters if you're not playing the game under Mac OS X.

The Sims 1.1.4 Updater (US)-1.2MB
This updates the Classic (Mac OS 8.x/9.x) version of The Sims to version 1.1.4. This is for the U.S. retail version only. [Note - Aspyr's page noted this update is only if you have not applied any expansion packs.-Mike]

Livin' Large 1.2.1 Updater (US)-9MB
This updates the Classic (Mac OS 8.x/9.x) version of The Sims Livin' Large to version 1.2.1. This is for the U.S. retail version only.

Interland decided today was the day to screw with my DNS, so I've included hostname and IP method both. Luckily, my site is hosted with Conxion, so the site is speedy.
www.extremesims.com/downloads/thesims/The_Sims_1.1.4_Updater_(US).bin
www.extremesims.com/downloads/thesims/The_Sims_Carbon_Install_US.bin
www.extremesims.com/downloads/thesims/Livin'_Large_1.2.1_Update.bin
or
206.204.218.57/downloads/thesims/The_Sims_1.1.4_Updater_(US).bin
206.204.218.57/downloads/thesims/The_Sims_Carbon_Install_US.bin
206.204.218.57/downloads/thesims/Livin'_Large_1.2.1_Update.bin "

Barney's Software Updates page below also has links to the Aspyr site pages with these files.

Update - Several readers replied to this post noting that OS X's swap file is allocated in appx 80MB sizes, so what I've noted above is normal apparently. Some of the replies like developer Bill Chin's include reference links and more info on tweaks to the swap file. Details.

Lacie SE2100 24x10x40 Firewire CDRW
PowerBook G4 running OS 9.1
Comments:
"I just got the new 24x CDRW from LaCie (firmware v6.34). Its blazingly fast, it looks good, appears quite sturdy and comes with Toast 5.0.1 Lite. It is a Sanyo drive inside; model CDBP-241040A(MMC).I burned a 650MB data CD with several thousand small files in under just 3 minutes (not counting verification.) I used Toast Titanium (which I already had) and it worked great; just plugged in the drive while the TiBook was running, turned it on, started Toast and was burning away.

Slight minuses;
1.no RCA jacks on the case,
2.incompatible with iTunes,
3.not bootable,
4.pretty loud.

Taken in turn, I don't care too much about the RCA jacks; it is a very new mechanism and will probably work with iTunes soon; not being able to boot from it is the most annoying drawback; as to noise I don't have to have it on all the time.

Weirdness;
1.if I have my external FW HD (OWC 911 case with WD 20GB) between the LaCie and the 'Book on the FW chain then the HD must be powered up or the CDRW is not recognized.
2.neither command-E nor the Eject CD on the Special menu work with discs in this drive although command-Y and the eject key on the keyboard do.

All in all a very nice package albeit with a few small gotchas. If anyone asked me, I'd say buy it.
Mike L. "

I saw these at MWNY selling for $299. I think many Sanyo drives have Burn-Proof support now. I've asked Mike if the 24x drive supported Burn-Proof.

" Hi Mike,
I wanted to add to the discussion about retail DVD-R drives in "older" G4 towers. I have a Winter 2001 Dual 533mhz G4. On Monday, I order a Pioneer DVD-R (the same as the SuperDrive shipping in current G4 Towers) from eCost.com (it cost $689 with next day shipping).

First a couple things about the installation. (1) removing the power cable on the DVD drive is the most difficult computer upgrade I've ever had. The power cable is securely in place. It took quite a bit of pulling and wiggling to get it loose. (2) the Pioneer drive is about an inch or more longer than the OEM drive. So, I had to remove the back of the carrier cage that holds the drive in place. That was not a problem as it is held in place by a series of four clip-like connections to the cage. The rest of the install was very easy - reattach the power cable and the ribbon cables. Screw in the carrier mounting screws and attach the face plate.
[There's a CDROM install guide here that has some photos that might be of help to those that have not done this before-Mike]

...iDVD started up fine and is a very nice program. I put together a 40 minute DVD of Quicktime movies and digital photos from a recent vacation, started the burn, went to dinner and when I returned an hour and a half later the DVD was waiting for me. There was a prompt which would have allow me to burn another copy of the same. Since I was gone, I can't say what the Dual 533mhz burn time would have been.

The pictures and the video looked washed out on the TV, but it is an older model. The DVD player is a recent Panasonic. The video was not optimized for iDVD, just straight captures from Final Cut Pro 2.

Speaking of Final Cut Pro, since it does not run under OSX/Classic, I am Running OS 9.1 on this G4, so I don't know how well the retail SuperDrive will work with OSX.
Keep up the great work; I read your site everyday.
- Dave "

For another reader's comments on using a retail Pioneer DVR-A03 (superdrive) with iDVD and Toast5 - see this June 13th, 2001 news item linked on the CD/DVD section of the IDE articles page here. Below that news post I included an issue noted by Roxio about Toast 5.01 and the Superdrive:

" After burning or simulating a burn of DVD-R or DVD-RW media with the Pioneer DVR-A03 (the Apple SuperDrive), Toast 5.0.1 is left in an inconsistent state. This causes any subsequent burn or simulation to fail with a Buffer Underrun, during the setup phase. No actual data is written to the media.
The workarounds are:
1) Have Toast rescan for new recorders (double-click the recorder info line at the bottom of the main window).
2) Quit and relaunch Toast. " "

Just a reminder to anyone that owns the drive and uses Toast 5.

" Mike,
I just wanted to chime in with my .02¢. I agree with Russí comments regarding the addicitive nature of Tropico. I also purchased at MacWorld and have now played several enjoyable hours of the game. If you like the sim genre, youíll love this game.

Regarding hardware I also have a G4 400 with 448Mb ram but Iím using the stock agp video card. I would also describe scrolling as ìslowî but it seems the same when I play the game on my 2001 iBook. I have not had any stalls, however, it does seem to slow down. One thing to note, my copy came with a green postcard that distinctly instructs the user that when installing on OS X it ìseems to freezeî it says be patient for a couple of minutes, its not frozen...and they go on to say that rather than hold up the release to fix this, they decided to get it out the door.
Iím glad it was ready for MacWorld.
Dave "

I saw the game at MWNY, but didn't buy it. I don't have enough free time to really enjoy sim games like this. I did buy some games there at the Aspyr booth (mainly for testing with graphics cards). I bought Alice ($40), The Sims ($35), Madden 2000 ($10) and thought I had selected Tony Hawk, but in the rush didn't notice until I unpacked at home that I had TR Chronicles instead.

• Metabox G3/400 in Umax S900 (rated 10)
• Powerlogix BlueChip G3/466 in PB G3 wallstreet1 (rated 9)
• Sonnet G3/500 in 8500/120 (rated 10)
• Sonnet G3/300 in 7500/100 (rated 8)

(Warning - Overclocking may not be reliable and could lead to hardware failure or corrupted data.) You can find the full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database for entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand). For detailed reviews with performance tests and install tips, see the CPU Upgrades page.)

Software Updates:
• The Sims Living Large 1.2.1
• The Sims 1.1.4 (*Note - only needed if you _have not_ installed any expansion packs)
  There's also a OS X carbonized version of the Sims (again not for expansion packs - direct download link is here.)
• Graphic Converter 4.0.9

Apple TIL Updates:
• iBook (Dual USB) Manuals
• Power Mac G4 Manuals
• G4 Cube Manual
• Power Mac G4 Cube Manuals
  (Both the above pages seem similar, both have multiple language versions of manuals)
• iBook Manuals
• iMac Manuals
• Mac OS: Rebuilding Desktop File and Icon Recovery
• iMac: Installing Memory (1 of 2)

Mac News:
(Note: Rehashing of press releases, repeated news, etc. not listed)

• Time for Apple to decide about .Net (cnet)
• Secondhand Mac (secondhandmac)
• US boffin enables high speed, non-volatile CPUs (the register)
• CNET First Take: Apple iMac (cnet)
• Fun at the Apple Store (modbee)
• Apple cuts G4 prices - official (For UK Readers) (macworld uk)
• Adobe plea on caged hacker (macworld uk)
• Roxio cautious on Q2 (yahoo)
• Build an iTunes Skinner (resexcellence)
• Macworld Expo New York 2001 Wrap-up (macminute)
• Macworld New York Attracts Record Crowd; Attendance Tops 64,000, Crowning Macworld the Largest East Coast Technology Show (businesswire)

Gaming:
• The Sims Living Large 1.2.1
• The Sims 1.1.4 (*Note - only needed if you _have not_ installed any expansion packs)
  There's also a OS X carbonized version of the Sims (again not for expansion packs - direct download link is here.)

Misc. Hardware Related:
• nForce to generate 10% of Nvidia's 2002 sales (the register)
• 7200RPM are the platters that matter for Western Digital (the register)